The law of deceit, p.22
The Law of Deceit, page 22
It’s him.
As I draw in, I recognize his build and shaggy hair. He’s much skinnier than when I last saw him and bruises mar every inch of exposed flesh. Anger explodes inside me. These motherfuckers hurt my nephew.
Trevor is shaking his head and rasping out words I can’t seem to make out. I nearly tackle him when I reach him.
“Honey, Aunt Sloane is here. You’re okay.”
He lets out a pained sob and rasps out, “Run!”
Run?
I turn to look for Bishop, ready to yell for him to get back up here now, when a large shadow casts over me. The scent of whiskey and body odor permeates the air. Before I can whirl around to face the person coming up to me, something slams into the back of my head.
The crack echoes in my skull and I black out before my body hits the ground.
Sloane
Ow.
The first thing I notice as I start to regain consciousness is that my head is throbbing inside my skull. Something warm trickles down the back of my neck. Has to be blood. What the hell did I get hit with?
I blink away a wave of dizziness, attempting to make sense of my location. It’s musty and smells of mildewed hay. I must be inside the barn. It’s dark aside from a few slivers of daylight shining in through the cracks of the worn building. When I go to touch the back of my head, I realize I’ve been cuffed to a pipe with my own handcuffs.
Naturally, I’ve been divested of my weapon, keys, phone, and anything else that could’ve been useful in my predicament.
A surge of panic swells up inside me as my fragmented thoughts begin to piece together.
Trevor!
Where is he?
“Trevor?” I croak, scanning my eyes across every viewable surface in my line of vision.
Nothing but dust and hay.
“Trevor,” I say louder, forcing my voice to project beyond my near vicinity. “Are you okay?”
Nothing.
I’m dizzy and slightly nauseous, probably sporting a nasty concussion, too. It’ll be okay, though. Bishop saw what happened. He’ll call for backup. This place’ll be crawling with cops in no time.
Breathe in, breathe out.
I attempt to keep the storm of fury and terror from overwhelming me. Running my palm across the dusty floor, I search for anything I could use for a weapon. A rusty nail would be great. Unfortunately, all I have to use in defense is hay and my free fist.
Voices can be heard just outside, but I can’t make out what they’re saying. Then there’s a squeak of a door that floods daylight into the barn. I squint against the harsh light that exacerbates my headache.
Who hit me?
What do they want?
A shadowed silhouette saunters my way. Is it the Prez guy? One of his goons? The figure stops a few feet in front of me and then squats.
“You should have left well enough alone, Thurman.”
The voice. I know the voice.
My brain short-circuits as I try to make sense of it. I finally am able to focus on the man’s face when he turns slightly. His profile is one I see every day at work.
Andre Bishop.
This doesn’t make any sense.
“I actually liked you,” he says with a cold chuckle. “Feisty as hell. Thought many, many times of what it’d be like to fuck someone like you. I bet you’re an animal in the sheets.”
“Fuck you,” I hiss, swiping the air in front of me and missing him by a mile.
“Too late.” He shrugs and sighs. “The time for those ideations is over. This is all business, I’m afraid.”
Thoughts blink inside my head, little flashes here and there. This stupid concussion is making it impossible for me to think straight. I remember the files on his desk and the texts from the mayor. Then he easily lured me out of the station with the promise of news about my nephew dangling on his hook.
He knew where he was all along.
“You were nothing more than a nuisance until you started picking at the Ghirard case. I had that shit buttoned up so tight,” he complains. “But you just couldn’t let it go even after Tanaka rode your ass about it.”
I knew it.
I knew there wasn’t something right about it all along.
“You work for the mayor, doing dirty deals behind the scenes? Never pegged you for a corrupt cop.”
He chuckles. “You call it corruption. I call it business. Everything was fine until you got into my business.”
How can he be so smug and chill about this? It’s like he’s confident he’ll get away with it. There’s no telling what all he’s been getting away with since he’s been working for the PMPD.
“You made it pretty easy to deal with you, though,” Bishop says, continuing his arrogant speech. “Your family is trash, and when I discovered your nephew and your sister’s boyfriend were involved with some local bikers, I realized there was a way out of all this. A way to get your thorny ass out of my side.”
My heart hurts that my family was brought into this because of me. Trevor’s in real trouble right now, and apparently, I brought all this on myself.
“Me and Prez were able to strike a deal,” he reveals. “Money and sex, Thurman. Those two things make the world go round.”
“You can’t do this forever,” I bite out. “You’ll get caught sooner or later. Maybe you’ll get rid of me, but there’ll always be someone out there looking to stop corruption and uncovering the truth.”
“That’s me, woman. I’m the detective with the impeccable record and a favorite among my peers. Even you liked me and you don’t like anyone.”
“Where’s my nephew?”
“Oh, he’s around. I promised a lead and I led you right to him. We have a plan for your delinquent nephew. He has your blood on his hands.” He makes a gesture at the back of his head. “And he’ll have the murder weapon on him. I’ll have to shoot him in the head, of course, for killing my colleague and friend. If only I’d gotten to you sooner.”
His sarcasm makes me grind my molars together. “You won’t get away with this.”
“Oh, but I have. Tanaka’s stupid ass thinks it’s you—that you’re the problem in our department. He thinks you’re covering for your nephew murdering Lenny. Prez cut Lenny’s throat and later sent Trevor home. You both played beautifully into our hands.”
I was wrong about Tanaka all along.
We were looking for the same person and were too focused on our dislike for each other.
What a waste. I feel like an idiot.
And now, because I didn’t figure this out quickly enough, my nephew is going to die. We’ll both die. I’ll never see Dempsey again.
A lump forms in my throat. Crying won’t help me. Grieving over a future with a man I love that I’ll never go on to have isn’t going to get me out of this situation.
“You were supposed to die weeks ago, but you were too slippery then,” Bishop says, jerking me back to his villain speech. “You’re not slipping away this time. I’m being paid a lot more to get my hands dirty to make you go away.”
The mayor is dishing out the cash to have me murdered all because I was digging into the Ghirard case?
“You’re going to kill me yourself, Bishop?” I bark out a harsh laugh. “They’ll catch on. They’re not stupid. Your DNA will be all over this place.”
He rises to his feet and clucks his tongue. “Like I said, Thurman, me and Prez have worked out a deal. He gets to kill you, we frame Trevor, and everyone walks away happily ever after. Well, except for you. You’ll be dead.”
Without another word, he strides off. Someone else approaches and swings at me. I barely have a chance to react or move and take a fist to the jaw.
I see lights again and then nothing.
“Aunt Sloane.”
“Go to sleep,” I murmur. “Night night.”
“Wake up,” Trevor croaks out. “Please.”
I jerk fully awake with a massive migraine. In one of the now-muted light slivers, I find my pale nephew shivering with snot running down his lip. Adrenaline courses through my veins, the need to protect Trevor pushing past the pain in my head.
“It’s okay,” I rasp. “We’re going to get out of here.”
How? I have no freaking idea. But we have to. We can’t die like this.
Light enters the barn again, this time dimmer, like maybe just the moonlight. It makes me wonder how many hours I’ve been trapped in this barn and unconscious.
People will be looking for me.
Aisha knows I went with Bishop.
They’ll piece it together. They’re cops.
But will it be too late?
Considering they have Trevor in here with me, I’d say my time is running out. Quick. The scent of body odor and whiskey invades my nostrils, making me nauseous. Whoever is here is the person who knocked me out before.
“Lookie, it’s the bitch pig who shot my fucking friend.”
Prez.
“He deserved it,” I spit out and brace for him to hit me.
Nothing comes.
“Andre says I have full rein. I can do whatever the fuck I want to you.” He kicks some hay toward me. “Blondie, there’s a lot I want to do to you, but we’ll start by making you squeal like the pig you are when my dick is rammed up your tight cop ass!”
“No!” Trevor cries out, launching himself at Prez. “I won’t let you hurt her!”
Prez easily body slams Trevor to the barn floor. Something cracks—which sounds like a bone snapping—and my heart is crushed. Trevor wheezes, giving me renewed hope that he’s still alive. Prez drags Trevor to where I can see him in a ray of moonlight and then begins strangling him. Trevor is too weak and no match for the burly guy on top of him.
“Stop,” I cry out. “Please, Prez. Just do what you have to do to me. Get this over with. I can’t watch this.”
He rains punch after punch down onto Trevor’s face and then finally abandons him to look my way. My nephew’s blood spatter is on this monster’s face.
The monster who’s coming for me next.
With surprising quickness, he grabs my foot and yanks. The cuff cuts into my arm as I’m stretched as far as I can go. I try to fight this man off with my free hand, but he easily swats it away. He’s yanks at the top of my pants, ripping the button off in one tug. Then he starts peeling my uniform slacks off my body.
He’s going to rape me as promised.
God, I can’t do this.
Think of Dempsey.
Dempsey, sweet Dempsey.
I’m flipped onto my stomach and my arm screams in pain at being twisted. Then a punch to my back has me in so much pain I vomit.
He punched me where I got shot.
That bastard.
Someone is sobbing hysterically and it takes me a second to realize it’s me. I’m crying. No, I’m freaking the hell out. I may be a tough cop, but even this is too much to deal with.
I need help!
But help isn’t coming.
My panties are torn painfully from my body and dirty fingers probe at my ass crack. I wish he’d just kill me instead. That would be more preferable to what’s coming.
Shouts.
Lots of men shouting.
Bright white lights start dancing all over the barn in every direction. Chaos ensues with people yelling and crashing into things. Prez lets go of me, taking off in a bolt. I whimper and sob, painstakingly trying to twist my body back around. My ass meets the dirty hay floor and it’s a relief. I’m trembling so hard my teeth keep clacking together, but all I can focus on is pulling my uniform pants up to provide some sort of protection. Heavy boots thud toward me, causing me to shriek, shying away from my attacker.
“It’s okay,” a smooth, deep voice says. “PMPD has arrived. Let me get you uncuffed.”
A light from somewhere in the barn reveals my rescuer.
Andre Bishop.
I open my mouth, ready to scream at him to get away from me, when he brutally grips my jaw, cutting me off.
“Say a single word and I’ll finish what Prez started,” he warns, voice low and dangerous. “And then I’ll do the same to every goddamn person in your family.”
Another man rushes over to us. I recognize the nauseating cologne immediately. Bishop’s partner, Ethan Montgomery.
“Grab the kid,” Bishop barks. “Right there. I think he’s injured. I found Thurman. She’s in bad shape too.”
“Fuck,” Montgomery growls. “I hope every single one of these assholes goes down for this.”
“You and me both,” Bishop agrees.
I’m too stunned, and frankly terrified, to speak. Bishop unlocks the handcuff, finally freeing me. I’m too weak to stand on my own and am forced to lean against him once he has me on my feet. More tears freely fall down my cheeks.
I’m not dead and neither is Trevor.
I need to get to safety before I can figure out a way to bring Bishop down for all this. In the shape I’m in right now, though, I’m powerless and relying on his physical strength to get me out of this barn.
Once outside, the chill of the fall air makes me shiver. Bishop crushes me against him. Bile burns my esophagus, making me wonder if I’m going to puke again. I hope I do it all over him.
EMTs rush over to nephew, immediately taking over for Montgomery. More EMTs come to my aid. Bishop gives me a painful warning squeeze on my arm before releasing me to them.
I’m free.
I’m free from that psychopath.
Tanaka stalks past me, giving me a nod and an apologetic smile. I’m confused that I didn’t just receive another reaming for getting involved with these bikers again. Instead, I see him stop Bishop. He says some words that have Bishop backing up, but then Montgomery and another officer are manhandling him into cuffs as Tanaka reads him his rights.
Am I imagining this?
Nope.
They put him into the back of a squad car and shut the door. Tanaka and the other officers are talking, but the EMT asking me questions and probing the back of my head distracts me.
“Ma’am, tell us where you’re hurt.”
“I, uh, got hit in the back of the head. Then punched in the face.” I grimace. “And punched in the back where I was recently shot.”
A wave of nausea has me gagging.
“Were you sexually assaulted?” the woman asks, gesturing at my unbuttoned pants that aren’t doing anything to hide what my panties would have if I still had them.
“N-No, well, y-yes. I, uh, he didn’t get to penetrate me, b-but that was the plan.”
She nods, a sad look on her face as she covers my lower half with a blanket. The next few moments are a blur as they check my vitals inside the back of the ambulance. Before we leave, someone enters the ambulance and sits down beside me.
“Thurman.” Tanaka stares down at me, an unreadable expression on his birdlike features. “I’m sorry.”
“For?” I rasp out. “Is Trevor okay?”
“He’ll be fine. I popped in to check on him before coming to see you. They’re already on the way to the hospital with him. One of the officers is calling your sister.”
I relax, thankful that he’s alive and family will be told.
“I feel stupid,” Tanaka admits with a scowl. “I seriously thought you were the rat.”
“Same to you, buddy.” I grimace when another wave of pain explodes inside my head. “I mean, what police chief can afford to drive a Porsche?”
“One who married into wealth,” he says, shaking his head. “We fucked up.”
That we did.
“I came here from Seattle because of the corruption of the previous chief. From experience, I’ve learned there’s not just one snake, but usually a couple. I’ve been watching everyone but then got distracted by your…pursuits.”
“And I,” I say with a sigh, “found out a little too late that Bishop was the real source of infection in our department.”
Tanaka gently touches my arm, and surprisingly, I do find comfort in it. “We were both fooled. It won’t happen again.”
“There’s someone else too,” I tell him, cautiously side-eyeing the female EMT.
“I know.” His eyes flicker knowingly. “Montgomery actually cracked things wide open. He’s been watching Bishop’s interactions for months now and even followed him to a couple of meetings. The other person in this equation is being apprehended now.”
Relief floods through me, knowing the mayor’s not getting away with his part.
“What about that sick piece of shit biker president?”
“On his way to jail with all his buddies.” He squeezes my arm. “We could have avoided all this had you stayed at your desk like you were instructed to. Imagine my surprise when I came out and you were both gone.”
Great timing, Sloane.
“How did you know where to find me?”
“Officer Patel said she got a bad vibe when she saw you leaving with Bishop. She was ready to rescue you, guns blazing. We weren’t sure where the two of you went. Both of your phones were turned off. But when he turned around to come back, he switched his phone back on. Then, to our surprise, he came in with an outlandish story about how your nephew had taken you hostage.”
“You had to go along as though you had no idea,” I grumble. “I bet that sucked.”
“Indeed. I had to send Patel home because she was seconds from blowing the lid off the entire operation.”
A smile tugs at my lips as I think about Aisha ready to rip Bishop’s head off for me. She really is a good friend.
“What now, Tanaka?”
“Now we let justice prevail. Those men are going away for a long, long time.”
“Good.” I smile at him even though my bruised face hurts. “Next time, let’s try working together instead of against each other.”
He smirks. “Fantastic idea, Thurman.”
Dempsey
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Gemma says as she watches me pace Sloane’s living room. “Probably just working late. She’s been gone a long time. I bet her boss gave her a boring task like organizing the file room.”
Her babbling, though I don’t believe a word of it, soothes me. Just like always. It’s why I called her first—why I always call her first. Plus, she has our car until I get one of my own. I don’t like being stranded.
